The Sea of Trolls
The Sea of Trolls'' - One of the three volumes of The Saxon Saga, a mythopoeic Young Adult Fantasy, written by an american author Nancy Farmer in 2004.' 'Main Plot' '''this is a good plot. The plot of ''The Sea of Trolls takes place in year 793. The beginning, as it usually is, starts idyllic. Jack, an eleven year old boy, lives with his mother, father, and sister in a small village in England, at the seaside. His sister, Lucy, is seven. They all live in a village, like many other, in which dominates Christianity, spreading around the globe. Just outside the village lives a skald, The Bard, a shipwreck who settled in the village. Jack becomes the Bard’s apprentice, who teaches him about the life force. One day Jack finds a wooden chest with images of wolves and men engraved on it, containing a substance allowing Northmen go berserk. Soon after, when Jack and the Bard are thinking about stopping the Vikings, a wounded monk from Holy Isle comes to the village. His name is Aiden, and he is the only survivor of the Viking raid on the island. From that moment Jack and the Bard are conjuring the mist to hide the village. The next night the Bard is attacked by a Nightmare, sent by half-troll Frith to kill the skald. Frith is now queen of the Northmen, but also sister of Frothi, who was killed by Beowulf with the help of the Bard. The skald is hurt during the fight with the Nightmare and loses his wits, so Jack continues to conjure mist by himself. In the morning he and Lucy are being caught by Northmen with their leader Olaf One-brow, and taken to the ship to be sold as thralls, slaves. ' '''Along the way through the sea Jack gets to know the crew, including Thorgil, a vicious 11 year old berserker, and Runa, a former skald. During the voyage a crow finds his way to the ship, and Jack calls him Bold Heart. At the slave market in Edwin’s Town Jack and Lucy are almost sold to a group of Picts, but when Jack sings a song about Beowulf, and Olaf learns that Jack is a skald, a bard, he takes him home. Not far from home Olaf makes one detour to raid a village of Gizur Thumb-breaker, an oathbreaker. Olaf and his berserkers attack the village, burn it, and kill everyone. Then they finally go home, where Jack is introduced as Olaf’s skald, and starts wearing slave’s collar. One of his tasks is to clean Golden Bristles’ lair. Golden Bristles is a troll-boar, but despite it, Jack manages to actually calm him down. In the evening Olaf takes Jack, Lucy, and Thorgil to king Ivar Boneless’ palace to present his raiding spoils. Thorgil gives her silver leaf necklace and Lucy as a gift to queen Frith. Jack is asked to perform, but when he sings, the beautiful and seducing queen Frith shows her true troll nature, and due to Jack’s magic she loses her hair. The only way to bring back Frith’s hair is to drink from Mimir’s Well in Jotunheim to gain knowledge, and sing another song. Thus Olaf, Thorgil, Jack, and Bold Heart go to Jotunheim, to find Mimir’s Well. ' Once in Jotunheim, they discover that everything in the land of ice trolls is bigger, humongous. The fellowship needs to watch out for the skies, because there is a dragon’s nest nearby, and a dragon flies here and there sometimes. Later on they encounter a troll bear. While fighting the bear Thorgil breaks her ankle, and Olaf dies, killing the bear at the same time. Short before his death he gives Jack a chess pawn, granting free passage to Jotun Queen, and names Thorgil his daughter. Jack ignites a pyre on which Olaf’s body is placed. Just the two of them, Thorgil and Jack continue their journey to find Queen Glamdis. They are taken by the dragon and placed in its nest to feed the young dragons. Bold Heart comes with rescue, and tricks one dragon to kill his two siblings. Thorgil kills the last dragon, but accidentaly drinks some of his blood, which burns her mouth, enabling her to speak, but also grants ability to understand birds (and other air animals). She learns from the three owls of a hidden valley, and leads Jack and Bold Heart there. The valley is different than the rest of the land they have been to; it is quiet, safe, and thickly wooded. Jack, Thorgil, and Bold Heart spend few days there until they forget what did they come for to Jotunheim; that is the valley’s magic. Jack spares life of a big capercaillie, and when he returns to their camp he meets Golden Bristles. Near an ash tree Jack finds a walking stick for himself and on the back of Golden Bristles, he, Thorgil, and Bold Heart finally leave the valley, and travel to Mountain Queen’s palace. On an ice arch bridge they are attacked by a great eagle, but Thorgil kills it, and Jack finds magic with his walking stick and burns the bridge. At the other side they are found by the trolls and, shown the chess pawn piece, taken before Queen’s presence. The Mountain Queen welcomed guests with hospitality, and agreed to help them on their quest. Glamdis once in a while hosts an unusual chess game. Three Norns, who are responsible for life and death come to Glamdis’ palace and play. This time Jack and Thorgil are present during the game of chess. After Norns finished their game, they noded to Jack and Thorgil, allowing them to go to Mimir’s Well. The walls of the ice palace begin to crack and break, and Jack and Thorgil walks out to the hidden valley. It is the same valley they were in not a week ago. They find Mimir’s Well underneath Yggdrasil. In order to drink from the well one needs to sacrifice something. Odin sacrificed his eye, and Jack sacrifices his rune of protection Bard gave him, giving it to Thorgil. Thorgil sacrifices her dream of becoming the berserker. They both drink from the Well, and Jack takes a little bit of the water for Runa. Jack and Thorgil leave Queen Glamdis’ palace and journey ' ' ''' '''back to the ship, but due to dragon’s attack are taken by a big spider, to its nest on the top of a tree. Jack sings and plays a lullaby on spider’s web to put it to sleep, and Bold Heart with three owls comes to rescue Jack and Thorgil. Afterwards they head straight to the ship, leave Jotunheim and go home. Jack gives Runa what’s left of water from Mimir’s Well, and Runa regains his lost voice. In Olaf’s village, on king Ivar’s court Jack tells Frith to cut 1/3 of Frey’s cats hair if she wants to regain her hair. Frith orders to cut it all, and due to the magic the hair grows on all of her body. The cats, who sacrificed their hair are furious, so when Thorgil frees them from the leash, they attack Frith, who runs to the Fen and vanishes along with pursuing cats. With quest completed, Jack and Lucy are freed, and go home. In Jack’s village, Bard finally transfers from Bold Heart to his own body. They live happily ever after. Until The Land of the Silver Apples. ' 'Characters · JACK – An 11 year old boy. Son of Alditha and Giles. Brother to Hazel, step-brother to Lucy. Lives with his parents in a village in England. At the age of 11 he becomes bard’s apprentice. Along with Bard he conjures the mist to save the village from destruction. Kidnapped with his step-sister Lucy by berserkers, led by Olaf One-brow. He becomes Olaf’s skald and together with Runa, an elder skald, prepared a song in Olaf’s honor. Taken to Norway to king Ivar Boneless and queen Frith’s court. Singing a song and at the same time casting a spell on queen Frith, that revealed her true self as a half-troll, by mistake. In order to save his step-sister Lucy from death at the hand of Frith, he travels with Olaf and Thorgil to Jotunheim, to ask the Mountain Queen of Jotuns about Mimir’s Well. Drinking water from the Well could provide knowledge how to reverse Jack’s spell and bring back Frith’s beauty. Their fellowship loses Olaf in Jotunheim, who dies during the fight with giant troll bear. Jack finds a staff of an ash tree, coincidentaly burning the ice bridge to the queen’s castle, and finally gets to Jotun Queen castle. Jack encounters the Norn and in the end gets permission to go with Thorgil to Mimir’s Well. In order to drink the water he sacrificies his rune amulet and gives it to Thorgil. On their way back they are spotted by the dragon and have to hide somewhere. Unfortunately they, despite Mountain Queen’s warning, run towards the rocks instead of the forest. The rocks are in fact spiders, and kids are taken by giant spider mother to her nest on top of a tree. Jack saves the day by vibrating the web in tunes of a lullaby. The giant spider falls asleep and Jack and Thorgil are saved by Bold Heart and the 3 owls. Afterwards they go straight to the ship. They return to Olaf’s village and Jack finds the wisdom to reverse the spell put on Frith. After what he’s done, Jack is taken back home, to England. ' '· THORGIL – An 11 year old young berserk, who dreams of dying in battle and going to Valhalla. Her mother was a thrall, a slave. Her father killed her little brother in a berserk rampage, then demanded as his dying wish that Thorgil’s mother would be burned with him when he falls in battle. After her father’s death she is taken care of by Olaf and his family. She meets Jack and Lucy when she and Olaf’s band kidnapped them in England. She teases Jack and Lucy and treats them as objects, as thralls. She stole a silver leaf necklace on one of their raids. She doesn’t have any friends except queen Frith’s hounds. On the audience at king Ivar Boneless’ court she is forced to give her silver necklace as a gift for queen Frith. Together with Olaf and Jack she travels to Jotunheim to seek help from Mountain Queen. She gets hurt during the fight with troll bear, throughout which Olaf kills the bear but dies of wounds. Before his death he proclaims Thorgil his daughter. With sprained ankle Thorgil can’t walk very fast. She and Jack are taken by the dragon mother to her nest, to be fed to baby dragons. Thanks to Jack and Bold Heart the eldest dragon baby kills the rest of his siblings and Thorgil kills him. During the fight some of dragon’s blood gets on her face and to her mouth. For some time she is unable to speak due to molting dragon blood, but is granted a gift of understanding the speech of air creatures, birds for instance. Thanks to that ability she understood three owls who were speaking about finding shelter in a hidden valley. Jack takes Thorgil and she leads the way to the valley, where they spend couple of days. When Golden Bristles finds them, they all travel to Mountain Queen’s castle, and are attacked by a giant eagle on the bridge. Thorgil kills him and they finally reach the palace. Together with Jack she is granted permission to go to Mimir’s Well. She sacrifices her dream of becoming a berserker and drinks water from the Well. After accepting Jack’s rune amulet and drinking water from the Well Thorgil changes completely. She is no longer a blood-thirsty berserker, who dreams of death. She does not treat Jack as a thrall anymore and she gains friends. Although she has sometimes her outbursts of anger, but her general attitude has changed. ' '· BROTHER AIDEN –A Pict and a librarian monk, the last survivor from the Holy Isle. He was found by Father Severus during his penance in the forest. Aiden was supposed to be sacrificed for the Wild Hunt. Father Severus broke his penance and took the child to the Holy Isle, where Aiden became a monk.Giles Crookleg – father of Jack and Hazel, step father of Lucy. ' '· ALDITHA – Jack and Hazel’s mother, Lucy’s stepmother; a village witch, trained in simple spells and charms ' '· THE BARD – Irish skald and sorcerer, known as the Dragon Tongue. Lured by Partholis to the Elfland when he was collecting mistletoe. Partholis was charmed with him, but imprisoned him anyway. After a year Bard got away, leaving with a part of Partholon’s best spells. He is also Ethne’s father. ' '· OLAF ONE-BROW - Northman; Ivar Boneless’ subject. Father of Skakki and Thorgil, husband of Lotti, Dotti and Heide. He led pillaging raids on the Holy Isle and the shores of England. Kidnapped Jack and Lucy, but made Jack his skald. Alongside with Jack and Thorgil sailed to Jotunheim. Died in battle with a giant troll bear. During his former vists in Jotunheim he procreated half-troll with Glamdis, the jotun queen. ' '· IVAR BONELESS - son of Ragnar Lothbrok, king of the Northmen. Fell in love with Frith, and went under her spell, due to which he has lost his spirit and authority, doing whatever Frith desires. ' '· FRITH – Mountain Queen’s daughter, Frothi’s sister, Ivar Boneless’ wife. ' '· FROTHI – Mountain Queen’s daughter, Frith’s sister, mother to Grendel. Killed by Beowulf, with the help of Bard. ' '· MOUNTAIN QUEEN – Glamdis, mother of Frith and Frothi; fell in love with Olaf One-Brow, but did not enslave him. ' '· BOLD HEART– A crow whose body was taken by Bard after he was attacked by the wraight. The crow’s spirit was sent to Bard’s body instead. ' '· LUCY - daughter of Partholis and Partholon, elven queen and king. Kidnapped by the hobgoblins as a babe, and switched with human babe, Hazel, in Midgard. Lucy was taken by Giles Crookleg and raised as his and Alditha’s daughter. At the age of seven kidnapped with her step-brother Jack by Olaf One-Brow and other Northmen. One year later taken to St. Fillian’s monastery for an exorcism, but due to Jack’s earthquake out of control she fell to the well, but found the way to Elfland, where she sat beside her real mother and father. ' '· FONN - Glamdis’ daughter. ' '· FORATH - Glamdis’ daughter. ' '· THORGIL'S MOTHER (ALLYSON) – Ascendant of King Hengist, one of the horse lords. Kidnapped by a Northman. 'Reviews' '"Should instantly be added to the list of those books which leave an indelible mark on the imagination... a hair-raising, spine-tingling, heart-stopping adventure which really does bear comparison to ''The Hobbit."--Amanda Craig, in ''The Times Category:Books